IWWF Notable Changes, A New Dawn Has Arrived

9th September 2019

For Immediate Release

IWWF Notable Changes, A New Dawn has Arrived

IWWF President, Jose Antonio Perez Priego

In conjunction with 2019 IWWF World Waterski Championships in Putrajaya Malaysia the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF), the world governing body for towed water sports, celebrated its Biennial Congress encompassing more than 39 national federations present at the meeting.

Leading up to the congress, the IWWF Bureau and Executive Board met to discuss the future of the sport and upcoming challenges both short and long term. President Jose Antonio Perez Priego (MEX) presented a diagnostic of the current situation and proposed an “athlete centric” strategy to propel future growth and sustainability of the sport. Several actions were presented to these bodies and a clear mandate emerged from the constituency, “move forward with the plans”

Key strategies, both new and in progress, are:

Development and deployment of an Event Management System (EMS) to provide athletes, officials, event organizers, media and sponsors a single point of contact with the IWWF. Once deployed athletes of all sports disciplines will be able to create their own profile, register themselves to compete in events, consult their rankings, etc. Event organizers will be able to create events, populate them, score and publish results. It will become easier and transparent for relevant stakeholders to track Anti-Doping and Safe Sport violations. Media and Sponsors will be able to find out about records, past and upcoming participation of athletes and consult public profiles and a media bank. Jose Antonio Perez Priego stated “we are very excited to be in the final stages of this multi-layer project which should be rolled out by year end”

Creation of an international IWWF Licence for athletes who participate worldwide in IWWF sanctioned and ranked events in all disciplines. IWWF will rollout in conjunction with its EMS an international licence to identify its ranked members and provide cost saving opportunities by partnering with major corporations which cater to our athletes such as car rental companies, hotels and airlines thus offering our athletes savings opportunities at a modest annual registration cost.

One of our sport’s biggest challenges across all disciplines is finding the right organizers/partners to run IWWF world titled events. Due to our sanction fee and related organizing costs in the past, some sites with inappropriate conditions were chosen because the organizer could afford to paythe sanctioning fee. ‘No more” said President Perez Priego during congress. Going forward “adequate and safe Field of Play for our athletes will be paramount in our decision to awarding IWWF world titled events to venues”. IWWF is departing from its current financing model in favor of a new one based on less risk for the local organizers and complete control by IWWF on how to run World Titled events. This means reduced sanction fees, a shared risk/reward financial model for both LOC and IWWF more global sponsorship opportunities for advertisers and a consistent ‘Look and Feel’ at all IWWF events.

Morphing of the current IWWF World Cup series into a professional circuit of pre-established events worldwide with a fixed calendar and a uniform distribution platform that will allow professional athletes to compete for prize money and offer amazing sponsorship opportunities for visionary companies that want to be associated with one of the most exiting sports on the water, featuring its lifestyle and athletic ability. This tour will be comprised of current major existing waterski and other disciplines and will allow for new events to join the circuit on a continuous or sporadic base.

About the IWWF: The International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) is the world governing body for towed watersports and has over 90 affiliated Federations worldwide. It was founded in 1946 in Geneva, Switzerland. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sole authority for towed watersports. The IWWF is an affiliate member of the Association of IOC Recognized International Sports Federation (ARISF) and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). The IWWF’s sports disciplines include, amongst others, Tournament Waterskiing (slalom, tricks & jump), Wakeboard, Cable Wakeboard, Cable Waterskiing, Disabled Waterskiing, Show Skiing, Ski Racing, Barefoot Waterskiing & Wakesurfing